100 Greatest Phillies: 77 – Freddy Leach

At age 21, Freddy Leach played his first game of baseball. Ever. Leaving the farm, Leach needed something else to do to make money, so he turned to baseball, which to him, seemed like profitable fun. By age 25, he was playing Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies. And by age 28, he was a regular, hitting .329 and slugging .484. For three seasons, Leach put up very strong numbers, recording an average of 170 hits. He was the team’s best pure hitter during that time. After the Phillies, he’d put up some nice numbers for the New York Giants before retiring as a Boston Brave in 1932 because he didn’t like the game that much. His legacy? The Phils traded him to the Giants in 1928 for Lefty O’Doul. Pretty awesome trade, really.

Comment: Leach was a fourth outfielder for a few years, before becoming a regular and putting up some real nice numbers. Interestingly, one of his most comparable players on his Baseball Reference page is Bake McBride. There’s irony in that fact.